Many types of people with disabilities use urine collection receptacles called leg bags in order to collect their urine. In a conventional leg bag, a drain tube is connected to the bag to permit emptying of the leg bag. Emptying of a leg bag is a frequent requirement because paraplegic and quadriplegic patients excrete exceptional amounts of urinary waste to compensate for deficiencies in other excretory processes. For paraplegic and quadriplegic patients in particular, this operation poses an enormous problem, due to limited mobility which prevents them from emptying the leg bag themselves. The assistance of an attendant or assistant is therefore required in order to empty the leg bag, thereby reducing the independence of the disabled person and may at times cause embarrassment for the individual.
An attempt to resolve this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,650 to Miller. Miller discloses an apparatus which allows unassisted emptying of a leg bag by the occupant of the wheelchair. The apparatus includes a valve that is attached to the wheelchair, and which has an inlet that is connected to the drain tube of the leg bag. The outlet of the valve is connected to outlet tubing disposed beneath the wheelchair. The valve is manually actuatable by the occupant of the wheelchair through a lever that is easily accessible to the wheelchair occupant, or else automatically through a switch mounted on the wheelchair. In use, the wheelchair is moved to a position such that the drain tube is disposed over a floor drain, and the lever is actuated to open the valve, thereby allowing the urine in the leg bag to empty into the floor drain. When the leg bag is empty, the lever is again actuated to thereby close the valve. This apparatus relies upon gravity to empty the leg bag so that urine can only be emptied into floor located drains or into the ground itself which is unsanitary. In locations which do not have a floor drain, or else the floor drain is not easily accessible, this apparatus cannot be used.
Therefore there is a need for an improved system that allows a person who is confined to a wheelchair and who utilizes a leg bag, or the like, to empty the contents of the leg bag without the assistance of an attendant.